Paris Bids Adieu to Smoking

Posted by Shabana on January 3, 2008
Filed under: News, Paris

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Yes, you read that correctly: Paris has banned smoking. Paris?!? The last bastion of smoking collapses.

The city of cigarette thin women and chain smoking men is set to welcome a smoke-free new year. A no-lighting-up-in-public-spaces ban on smoking went into effect in Paris, France on January 2, 2008.

Parisian Days of Yore
Parisian Days of Yore / © Ilpo’s Sojourn

The ban had been introduced in stages with stage one being enforced in hospitals, and the second stage including the city’s cafes and restaurants. The ban once unthinkable in a country that has long been attractive to people from other countries precisely because of the freedom to light up freely, is not really that dramatic a decision. Just before it was introduced, polls showed that 80 percent of citizens were in favor of a ban in smoking in public places.

Great for public health and all that (every year around 60,000 people die from smoking related diseases in the country) but you can’t help feeling a little nostalgic for the classic image of a roadside café with suave men and chic women sitting around, conversing (intelligently, this is Paris) - and puffing elegantly. Sigh.

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